Blue tongues in the Hunter Valley

We decided to explore a bit north of Sydney for a change. Mandy suggested the Hunter Valley. I wasn't too keen, I mean it's only a world class wine growing region and cheese producer. Hmmm.

2 and a half hours from Sydney is the Hunter's main town of Cessnock, there wasn't a lot happening there so we went to the info centre and decided that we'd spend the night at the Hunter Valley Resort. Two major boxes were ticked with this decision, firstly the resort is built around the Blue Tongue micro-brewery, home of several tasty beers and alcoholic ginger beer, which is Mandy's choice in lieu of any significant cider production.

We have a few of each and a few games of pool. No need to mention who wins. Then we go eat in the restaurant and spend far too much on wine, and definitely too much on the meal which was average at best.

This produced a nice batch of indigestion for me which didn't help me sleep so I got up early to take a walk and some photos.




We then went for breakfast, or at least we tried to. We sat in the restaurant for fully 10 minutes without anyone acknowledging our existence or giving us some kind of idea what was happening. There were a total of 2 other people in the restaurant, and they had both been served. So, being a pit peeved, in desperate need of sustenance and anti-oxidants we left.

We had spotted an 'Irish Pub' on the way up and thought that would be a sure thing as far as brekkie was concerned, and the signs were good quite literally. 'Brekkie Here' they said with big arrows pointing towards the restaurant. Brekkie was finished, it was half-ten. The barmaid exited the other door and changed the signs before we got out.

Luckily enough though our prayers were answered several times with a massive full cooked breakfast just a bit down the road.

We then trundled down the road along the coast.

The Melbourne Supremacy?

The seaside suburb of St. Kilda is our main stop today. It's famous for it's shabby chic, and at first sight it lives up to this. However, after wandering through the place for about an hour, I'm not sure where the chic bit comes in. It comes across like an antipodean Brighton in off-season.

Mandy remarks that it would be a good place to film 'Sean of the Dead II', and it's hard to disagree. There are a lot of seniors here, who appear to need some serious looking after, loads of jakies and more stoners and pillheads than you can shake a methylated stick at. So its back uptown we go to sip some amber nectar in Federation square, watch the sun go down and wait for the shuttle bus to the airport.

Debate rages on about whether Sydney beats Melbourne. But, to be honest, its pretty hard to compare them. Melbourne doesn't have the sheer geographical beauty of Sydney, but it seems to make up for it with its vibrancy and a sort of European air with its focus on eating, drinking and shopping. All of which are abundantly catered for. Both cities are easy to get about, and very easy on the senses as well. If you want sport, Melbourne is the clear winner being the home of cricket, AFL, tennis, formula one and the Melbourne Cup. And gig-wise it wins as well, unless all you are interested in is stadium rock.

Architecturally it's more varied, but Sydney holds the trump card in this respect with the Opera House. And if it's all about location, then Sydney wins here too.

So, in the interests of neutrality, and not offending the few friends I have in Australia, all of whom live in Sydney, I'll stay firmly on the fence.

The Melbourne Identity (part 2)

Mandy suggests heading up to Lygon Street, home of some of Australia's most famous Italian restaurants, but we're not quite hungry yet so we stop for some refreshments at the James Squire Brewhouse.


It's pleasant enough but they're not serving 'Pipsqueak' Cider, which is one of the few ciders we've found in Oz, beyond Strongbow and Magners. Sitting outside enjoying the sunset we're slightly distracted by some pillhead barfin up about 3 pints of liquid not 10 feet away from us. Her boyfriend's diagnosis is that its the fizzy juice they drank cos its not settlin with him either. 'Hmmm' we think.

Lygon Street is bustling but we're a bit more immune to the food touts, although we eventually submit and park ourselves outside the, erm, who knows what it's called, there are loads of them and not always easy to tell them apart.

Mandy makes quick friends with one of the owners, brought together by their professions and a love of Mr. Ramsay.

Day 2 - The Melbourne Identity (part 1)

After coffee and brekkie we head down to Federation Square to get our bearings.

After consulting the 'lonely planet' we decide to head to the Botanic Gardens just south of the Yarra river. It's a perfect day for walking and these are supposed to be some of the best in the world.

We stop at the War Memorial, called the 'Shrine', a neat mix of respectful neo-classical and playfully modern architecture.

It also serves as an excellent place to view the city centre from. And laugh at the hordes of lunchtime joggers, whilst trying not to get run over by them.

From here we head in to the gardens themselves and spend a good amount of time just wandering about. The difference between botanic gardens here and at home is the lack of huge 'hot houses', of course they're not quite as necessary here. And the gardens are very nice. Lots of meandering paths, and tucked away little ponds and lakes to sit beside and contemplate the skyscrapers in the background.

Fern Gully is a particularly nice little 'prehistoric' meander.

We take a circuitous route back from the gardens and end up on the 'South Bank' of the Yarra river. It's lined with a variety of restaurants and coffee houses, so we grab a well-deserved coffee and some cheesecake. Mandy feeds the sparrows and discourages the seagulls.
From here it's back up to the city centre for more meandering.

Melbourne Day 1

We arrive in Melbourne about 8pm and get the shuttle bus from Avalon airport to the city and head for the hotel.

The hotel is okay, not great, but we're only really after a place to crash, and it's handily located in Chinatown, which is pretty much dead centre of the city.

This also means that we have ample opportunity for grabbing some sustenance as well. Melbourne is noted for its foodie delights, and first of all we check out a small laneway which is packed with restaurants and has mellow 'jazz' playing live, to add to the ambience.

Didn't reckon on the restaurant 'touts' though. After travelling, even as short as it was, all we wanted was to amble past, peruse some menus and sit and eat. Comeptition is obviously tough in Melbourne though, as every restaurant has someone standing outside waiting to reel you in as you pass. Nothing worse when you're trying to read a menu and someone's hovering at your back.

My awkward Ayrshire gene kicks in and their efforts fail miserably as we decide to just brush past them all and go somewhere else instead.

They were less present in Chinatown, so we wandered up and down and got seated in a bustling little place about four doors from the hotel.

Work Sucks and Winter's Worse

Just thought that maybe some of you back home might be interested to see what an antipodean Winter is like. So here it is.

Another hard day at the office :)